On Tuesday night, Dana Young won a solid victory in her Republican House District 57 election, more than doubling the amount of votes of her second place opponent, Todd Marks.  Now she goes on  to face a novice candidate but someone who is certainly no newcomer to politics,  Democrat Stacy Frank, the daughter of the much revered Pat Frank, a former state and county legislator who now is serving as the Hillsborough Clerk of the Circuit Court.

On Thursday night Frank began her general election campaign with a fundraiser at her campaign headquarters  on Kennedy Boulevard, just west of Dale Mabry, where there were several dozen people in attendance when CL showed up more than half way through the event (Frank said there had been around 100 people at one point).

Frank said her number one issue on the campaign will be the economy.  "I haven't met anybody in this district who thinks Tallahassee has done a good job,"she said.  "I'm representing an independent voice who's lived in the district my whole life, who knows the district and understands the number one issue is the economy and jobs.  "

Speaking tough on illegal immigrants became a big issue in the GOP District 57 race, with only third place finisher Dan Malloy choosing not to engage much on the issue.  Young ran a television ad that featured grainy black and white footage of troopers with dogs searching for undocumented people.

On Young's strong anti-illegal immigration stance, Frank said, "I think we need to enforce our immigration laws and I would work closely with our congressional delegation to make sure we address problems if our existing laws don't address them, but I also feel strong that if we have any state contractors who employ illegal aliens, they should lose their contracts."

Frank didn't have any direct comment on the idea that has caught on like wildfire amongst some Republicans in Florida – that is, that there needs to be an Arizona style anti-immigration law installed soon.  She said after a Federal judge recently blocked some provisions of that law from going into effect, she wasn't quite sure what was in the bill at this point.

This article appears in Aug 26 – Sep 1, 2010.